Author of The Knife and the Butterfly
Naomi Lloyd was a regular client of mine over the course of a year as she wrote her book The Knife and the Butterfly: A Story of Jungian Analysis (The Karnac Library)
. Naomi was a psychotherapist who reflected deeply on the intense process of Jungian analysis, which she revealed via the story of her own therapeutic journey.
“Its unique perspective is the result of recordings which the author’s analyst allowed her to make during the last eight months of their work together. Thus the reader is invited into the previously sacrosanct confines of the analytic consulting room, and encounters the perspective of the patient in parallel with the vision of the analyst, who imparts psychological, theoretical and emotional meaning to the patient’s presenting material.”
Very sadly, as she came towards the end of writing, Naomi learned that she had a terminal illness. She was, however, delighted, when Karnac agreed to publication of the book. I am so proud of all that she achieved.
If you have an interest in psychoanalysis, in Jung or the therapeutic process, you will find this book a deeply absorbing read. As Naomi was not able to publicise the book, I encourage you to read the book and to review it; it is a serious work and I believe it deserves recognition.
Find out more about Naomi Lloyd
Read a review of The Knife and the Butterfly in Therapy Today, excerpt below:
This searingly honest book is an example of how client experience and theoretical discussion can be usefully integrated. I hope that many others will follow Lloyd’s example. After all, therapy is experienced as a unique process between client and therapist and not as an applied theory. Lloyd herself bemoans the current obsession with statistically ‘proven techniques’ and instead champions a ‘spirit of unknowing’ as inductive of creative psychotherapy, as the human psyche remains ‘a mystery always just beyond our grasp’.
Although practitioners from orientations other than a Jungian or psychodynamic approach may at times disagree with some aspects of the therapy, this is a very useful and readable book. I heartily recommend it to all those interested in what therapy is actually like for the client, irrespective of orientation.
Chris Milton, PhD, clinical psychologist and Jungian analyst writes:
This account of a Jungian analysis provides fascinating (in)sight into the complexities of relationship that lie at the heart of analysis. The author reveals the challenges between self and other that develop and transform in the relational place that is analysis. She shows the work needed to have the analysis and commit to her own mind; to say “here I am, this is I”. The book shows the phenomenology of analysis as it occurs and is seen through both Jungian and psychoanalytic lenses. This book helps show us analysis as it happens.